Cashmere goats shed their fleece once each year. Depending on where you live
this can happen anywhere from December to March.
Learning when your goats are likely to shed is the first step in knowing when to remove
the fleece if you are combing or shearing.
The health of a fleece is something that must be considered be it shorn or combed. You must keep your goats lice free, in good health, and fairly clean to grow a fleece that is of value. A fleece contaminated with lice, excess dander, excessive vegetation, and with stress breaks, is of little or no value.

You have wasted money feeding through the winter if you allow these things to ruin your fleece. It can happen to the best of us if we are not diligent in our herd management.
Harvesting a fleece for the best resulting product requires you to understand how the fleece grows on your goat. The premium fleece is from the shoulders down the side of the goat to its rump.

Most, but not all cashmere goats grow coarser fiber on their necks, the fiber on the underside of the belly, lower front and hind legs tends to be shorter and coarser, and the top line and neck can hold heavy vegetation. This must all be considered before adding these areas of
fleece to your harvest.
The goal is to harvest as much of your goats fiber without down grading the whole
fleece with variable lengths, micron or contaminations.

The amount of cashmere a goat produces depends on a number of factors, the most important of which is how much selective breeding is in the genetic background. Goats with no selective breeding may produce only 10 grams of raw down, but a quality cashmere producer may produce as much as 100 grams of raw down annually. Diameter, length of fiber and overall fleece density and coverage also factor in to production.

One of our goals in NWCA is to provide you with information on
how to evaulate cashmere fiber for the best results possible.